<p>Hey all, so I'm currently a pre-med sophomore at the University of Florida, and I have relatively high aspirations for where I wanna go to med school(my dream school is Johns Hopkins Med school). </p>
<p>My current GPA is a 3.97(Got an A- in my Existentialism class lol)
Major: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Minor: Philosophy
After this semester I'll have completed all my med school pre reqs(A's in them too)
I'm currently a TA for my organic chemistry professor and working at a research lab specializing in organic chemistry and will be working with them for the rest of my undergrad culminating in a research thesis on an individual project supervised by my research mentor.
I will also be shadowing a medical internist at my college's local hospital for the semester but will try to continue to shadow to get a better idea of what exactly a doctor does and the workings of a hospital.
I'm not too involved in many organizations/clubs but will be taking a bigger role in my school's debate team since that's always been an interest of mine.</p>
<p>My question here is, what else should I be doing? How do I stand out amongst the many high achieving students also applying to these top-tier medical schools? I do have passions and feel I am a well rounded person but I have no idea how to show this on my application. I'm really not too knowledgeable on what exactly medical schools are looking for, I'm just doing well right now and following my academic interests. Sorry if this has been asked a million times before but I'd appreciate any and all help.</p>
<p>The fact is that you do not need to stand out. Just do what you enjoy doing the most, keep up the great GPA, get decent MCAT score, apply early enough and you should be all set, there is not much “mystery” there, pretty straight forward.</p>
<p>MiamiDAP,
Do you mean because relatively I’m doing rather well compared to other applicants or because I should just be doing what I like and find interest in rather than finding things to pop out in my application?</p>
<p>The latter. Try to avoid doing things to pad your resume. Figure out what your passion is, identify a problem in your community, work to find a solution. </p>
<p>Getting into a top school takes something way beyond “just” doing the standard premed stuff of checking the boxes of good grades, good MCAT, research, shadowing, volunteer work, leadership, glowing recommendation letters, and solid extracurriculars. It pretty much requires you to do something extra–start a nonprofit, get a Master’s from Oxford, graduate from Julliard, be an Olympic medalist, study orphanages in Africa, finish your JD at Yale, present your health policy research in Geneva to WHO, etc. (I’m not making those up–friends from top med schools did each of those.) </p>
<p>But you can’t really just go out there and say “Hey, I think I’m going to do patient safety and quality improvement research so I can present it at an international conference and then get my MD/PhD from Hopkins and work with Peter Pronovost.” And BOOM, it happens, and you get your JHU acceptance letter. You have to develop an interest in something and then let your passion guide you, because huge projects like that require a tremendous amount of effort and dedication–which you probably couldn’t muster unless you really cared about the subject. </p>
<p>Is every student at a top school like that? No. But there are more out there than you’d think.</p>
<p>So, I think you should just keep doing what you’re doing, find your passions, and run with them. There’s definitely an element of serendipity out there!</p>
<p>But, you should also know that all med schools in the US are fantastic, and you really can’t go wrong with any of them. Shooting for JHU is pretty premature at this point.</p>
<p>I stated general idea applicable to every single Med. School applicant, not only to you. “Standing out” is greatly overstated IMO. The most important is to remain yourself, pursue your own interests/goals, have interesting enriching experiences and grow as a person in 4 years that you are spending in college. Tailoring your life to Med. School is not what you want, doing things because they might “pop out” in some application down the road is not general direction at any stae of your life. Frankly, some people have done so much that they do not even mention some major things as there is not enough space. </p>
<p>However, you NEED high college GPA, decent MCAT score, medical EC’s and more or less socialble personality, these will get you in. </p>
<p>Please, do not base your future on advice from CC though. If you are seeking advice, the best is to ask your premed advisor.</p>
Who may not know their :eek: from a hat-rack or may just be the bee’s knees. I happen to think we do a pretty good job here. This site , along with an excellent pre-med advisor, independent research, and school specific threads on sdn, were all intrumental in the apps I’ve helped on. I can’t see why someone wouldn’t take advantage of all resources available. But that’s just me. </p>
<p>I don’t know specifically what JHU is looking for in a student other than top scores and grades and all the normal accoutrements of a stellar app. I don’t have a “feel” for them having a “unique” type of applicant in mind as my kid didn’t apply. So, IMO shooting for JHU is really just shorthand for doing your best for all your apps. </p>
<p>But kristin said it right. “See a problem, fix a problem.” </p>
<p>Does “Juan” suggest Hispanic? If so, a project showing you are connected to an under-served Hispanic community in a meaningful way would be a good place to start looking. </p>
<p>And , yeah. You are doing great. Just stop focusing on JHU and do the best you can. Every day.</p>
<p>Kristin and curmudgeon,
Yes, I am in fact Hispanic, born and raised in Peru until I was around 7 which is when I moved to the US. I was thinking about what you guys said and in fact I have thought about starting some sort of program or project where I could bring adequate healthcare to undocumented immigrants, since many do not or cannot afford healthcare and the government cannot provide healthcare for them, I see much of this nationwide and from personal experience(my father among one of them). Do you guys have any resources I could look read up on because I honestly have no idea how I would even start this.</p>
<p>^can’t say I have any specific ideas for you as you’re operating outside my knowledge base, but I’m sure there is plenty of information out there!</p>
<p>When I started getting interested in the elements of medicine outside of patient care that interest me (health literacy, patient safety, quality improvement) I found that the best way to learn about what’s going on in those fields was to read, read, read about them. Books. Articles. Internet sources. Ask a medical librarian (there’s one who posts here!). Whatever. Just digest as much of it as possible. </p>
<p>Then go find them in your community. Think beyond hospitals and clinics. Go for after school programs, church groups, farmer’s markets, whatever, wherever you think the group you’re interested in might be. From there, find someone involved with that community who has similar interests and become valuable to them. Sign up for a service-learning class and choose to do it with their agency. Volunteer weekly with their programs. Ask about how you can learn more. Continue learning about this field, making new contacts, growing your interests. </p>
<p>Aim to spend 7-10h/wk working on this project (this includes reading/researching/getting to know people etc). Eventually it will all funnel together into a nice little package you could practically tie a bow around. Who knows, you might even include “Blankity Blank, Director” in your email signature. It will probably look NOTHING like you intended it to, but as long as you have the flexibility to roll with the punches and a healthy dose of luck and serendipity, I’d guess in about a year or so you’ll have something you’re pretty proud of.</p>
<p>(I started a nonprofit junior year and am currently its director.)</p>
<p>Think how to get access to healthcare for that one kid over there. What I have found is that folks think too grandiose. Big ain’t better. Big slows you down. Big keeps folks from ever starting. </p>
<p>Right now, you won’t be providing healthcare. You are un-trained …but I bet you can shepherd a family to resources that do provide healthcare. And then another. And maybe another. And then you’ll fail. And then succeed again! And then fail again. And then maybe they can get a humble meeting at their place of some other members of their community and you can have some literature available. And maybe the next time a representative of a healthcare organization will show up. </p>
<p>Babysteps. </p>
<p>Left foot, right foot, breathe. </p>
<p>Look. You don’t have any money. You are not a doctor. You don’t have oodles of time. Use what you have (you are smart, know or can learn the system, and you care enough to try) and do something. Just start. I promise, the project will come to you like a bolt of lightning comes to a drunk golfer. lol</p>
<p>I might need to explain my lightning striking a drunk golfer reference. What I mean is, if you put yourself out there in the lightning storm with a long piece of metal in your hand, you don’t have to go looking for the lightning (your specific project). You just make yourself available and it will find you. ;)</p>
<p>just want to make sure that this doesn’t get glossed over. OP, since moving to the states have you become a citizen or permanent resident or whatever is needed to ensure you are not considered an “international” applicant?</p>
<p>i<em>wanna</em>be_brown,
I became a permanent resident the end of my HS senior year and will probably gain citizenship by the end of my college senior year</p>
<p>Many communities have low income/free clinics that serve undocumented immigrants, they’re a good place to start to get an understanding of what is involved, where the gaps are, etc.</p>
<p>Don’t reinvent the wheel. Find out what kinds of services are locally available and volunteer there to learn what they do and how they are funded. Learn about where they need additional help and what other services are needed…</p>
<p>Think small. One individual isn’t going to solve the serious, widespread, endemic problem of access to healthcare. Find a small, manageable problem where you can make a impact.</p>
<p>Choose an area–
Are you interested in healthcare policy at the local and state level? </p>
<p>Childhood immunization? </p>
<p>Dental services?</p>
<p>Eye care? </p>
<p>Diabetes education/treatment? </p>
<p>Nutrition education? </p>
<p>Educate yourself about fund-raising and the grant-writing process Funding will be critical for the success of any project you decide upon. While it’s extremely unlikely that any organization is going to hand over thousands of dollars to an untried student, there may be local community and special interest sources for a few hundred dollars to get our project off the ground.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the replies and advice, it’s really enlightened me to the approach I need to take in the activities I participate in while in college. I know now I don’t HAVE to start a non profit or huge national project to appeal to JHU or other top tier schools but rather pursue my passions and interests relentlessly without thinking of whether an application reviewer’s eyes will pop out the second he reads about it.
Two of my highest social concerns are related to the environment and hispanic rights, especially in relation to proper healthcare and healthy practices. I’ll try and see if there are organizations around my campus who deal with such issues or even organizations locally with missions incorporating one of these issues. </p>
<p>Any and all additional advice is greatly appreciated, I’ll try and report back with any progress I make since I see how efficient and helpful this forum is.</p>
<p>A few things. Are you Hispanic. If so, not to worry, you will attain a MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR boost in your application. Most Hispanics with 3.9+ and 30+ can go wherever they want, same with African applicants. </p>
<p>Second. ECs count for very little in this process. The only way to stand out is with high MCAT scores. ADCOMs care the most about MCAT scores. Don’t waste your time with ECs, they won’t make you stand out and they won’t help. You need a high MCAT score. Step a year, maybe more and study for the MCAT. The MCAT needs to be your sole EC and you need to devote every minute of the day to studying for the test. If you engage yourself outside of this you will be using up time less efficiently. Study for the MCAT like it is your job.</p>
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